SPOTLIGHT

“We are working in four to five Indian cities with Smart Cities Mission team, primarily in the virtual city planning space where we are helping them to plan out various amenities, utilities in context of the 3D representation,” said Technology provider, Dassault Systèmes IndiaTechnical Director Praveen Mysore told Geospatial Artha.

He further added that in Jaipur, they have been working for the last five years. The requirement was to get the entire 3000 sq kms area of the city in digital representation form of 3D, which includes the city as well as the peripherals of the city, it's the greater part of the municipal Boundary.

“Our job was to help the authorities figure out where the new foot over bridges, or the flyovers are to be developed; as well as to improve the security of the city by placing the CCTV at critical junctions, so that proper monitoring can be done at the same time”, says Mysore.

“We also have been part of the initiatives such as solar potential on the building, water harvesting for the buildings. We helped in developing the solution called 3D Experience City”, he adds.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, states are expected to seek funds for projects outlined in the SCP from multiple sources including the following:

 Using State/ULB’s resources (from collection of user fees, beneficiary charges & impact fees, land monetization, debt, loans, etc.)

 Deploying additional resources transferred due to acceptance of recommendations of the Fourteenth

Finance Commission (FFC)

 Utilizing innovative finance mechanisms, such as municipal bonds with credit rating of ULBs, Pooled Finance Development Fund Scheme and Tax Increment Financing (TIF)

 Leveraging borrowing from financial institutions including bilateral and multilateral institutions (both domestic and external sources)

 Availing the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)

Not all Efforts In Vain!

Rounded assessment of Smart Cities has been a mixed-bag, with certain cities such as Bhubaneswar, Pune, Indore, Varanasi, Srinagar and Coimbatore setting examples for other cities.

These cities have improved the quality of life for their citizens by implementing a variety of initiatives, revamping the urban infrastructure, integrating advanced technology to escalate sustainable environment and keep it clean.

They have also addressed the challenges faced by the citizens effectively with smart solutions such as hassle free traffic movement, efficient drainage, and automated sensors to monitor systems from remote location.

Coimbatore has successfully cleansed decades-old waste of over 1.55 million cubic metres, from the 650 acres of government land through Smart City Mission's waste-to-wealth concept.

Bhaskar Srinivasan, General Manager of Smart City Mission Limited , revealed that the initial phase involved cleansing around 950,000 cubic metres of waste over a span of two and a half years.

Rizwan khan mentions some of the key highlights of the Srinagar Smart City, like the complete restoration of the city’s hub (lal chowk), heritage ghats along the Jehlum River, refurbishment of The Jehlum River Front, commissioning of the Noise Monitoring systems, Water Quality Monitoring in Realtime.

“One of the key achievements for Srinagar Smart City Ltd. (SSCL) has been the Integrated Solid Waste Management and Door to Door Collection Moni- toring System which has been an issue all along not only in the city of Srinagar but throughout the Nation,” Khan adds.

Varanasi Smart City’s SPV combined location data from the municipal and data from the IoT sensors over GIS base maps to provide real-time analytics that compelled effective decision-making about city administration and operations. It enabled various systems such as public announcement system, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Adaptive Traffic Control System, speed violation detection system and others.

Global Learnings, Local Context

In order to make the neighborhood livable and enjoyable, the community should have access to the availability of emergency needs, essential retail needs, educational institutes, recreational zones, while helping local businesses and commerce to thrive in the same neighborhood. Building a codependency between communities for all sorts of needs and requirements.

That is why the world is slowly moving towards adopting 15-minutes cities, where accessibility to residents' needs, can be achieved within 15 minutes.

As per Rizwan Khan, some of the successful smart cities across the globe have been developed with the core values of robust planning, proper budgeting, competent execution plans, proper Maintenance Schedules and most importantly with the unwavering support of the people living in the city. .

In an interview with Geospatial World, Helene Chartier, Director of Urban Planning and Design, C40 Cities, and former Advisor to the Mayor of Paris, says, “There are cities working on specific projects, for instance, Medellin in Colombia is pioneer in bringing nature back. There are similar planned initiatives in a lot of cities. Paris is leading on urban planning with the 15 minute City model and mobility shift.”

The Nordic city of Oslo has been among the first to pave the way to reduce embodied emissions from construction activities. A lot of other leading examples are there all across the world

“Cities need data, which is definitely very important, especially for urban planners who need accurate information for example for developing complete neighborhoods, also called ’15 minute neighborhoods’ where people can find key amenities and services close to where they live,” she adds.

“When it comes to developing the smart cities in India the goal should not be just a mission or a milestone to achieve, it’s a continuous process that must go a full cycle to ensure that not just the parts of the city or the key areas of the city are upgraded but the whole city’s infrastructure is improvised,” adds Rizwan Khan.

Nibedita Mohanta

Assistant Editor, Geospatial World Nibedita@geospatialworld.net

Founded in 2018, Suhora is an Earth Observation (EO) analytics company that solves customer problems using geospatial analytics. Its work encompasses multi-sensor data fusion, image analysis, and automated information extraction for applications across environment, disaster management, infrastructure, and defense & intelligence.